The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon is an example of modern literature in both theme and style. The novel focuses on contemporary themes that include coping with gifted children with psychological disorders and explores the place of technology in everyday life. The novel, which is a biography, follows the life of a fifteen-year-old boy Christopher Boone a gifted boy who appears maladjusted. Christopher's story revolves around his house, neighborhood, school, and London when he goes to visit his mother. The settings play a central role in the development of the novel as it brings out the nature of the main characters. The writer intended to bring out a new understanding of how gifted children with psychological disorders interact with their environment. The interweaving of fictional elements, which include setting, point of view, dialogue, and conflicts make this novel modern literature.
Fictional Elements that Indicate that the Novel is an Example of Modern Literature in both Theme and Style
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The author has incorporated setting, point of view, conflict, and dialogue, to enhance the modernity of this novel
Setting
Setting which focuses on the place and the time the story takes place is a significant fictional element that enhances other aspects of a literary work. The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-Time setting is evidenced by Christopher’s memories and actions which span from the time he was four years old up to the time of the narration as a fifteen-year-old teenager. Christopher remembers almost everything that happened to him since he was four since he has a photographic memory (Haddon, 2004). These memories help the reader to get into Christopher’s life and to assimilate to his viewpoints about life. The writer focuses most of the attention on Christopher’s present life when he is writing a book that captures the events as they unfold. Christopher is keen on establishing who killed Mrs. Shears’ dog and the quest helps him to discover events that happened in the past including his mother’s infidelity and eventual relocation to London. The focus on his mother’s infidelity that came up during the investigation gives this novel a more modern feeling, as it is not restricted to traditional views on sexuality. The investigation occurs in five main settings, which include Christopher’s house, school, neighborhood, London, and Christopher’s mind. These settings help the reader to understand how the main characters interact to advance modern themes related to marriage, infidelity, and psychological disorders. Caracciolo (2016) notes that Mark Haddon allows Christopher’s thought patterns to take center stage to help the reader to understand and relate to Christopher's viewpoints regarding his interactions and interests. The reader can pick out cues that Christopher is a character with advanced and modern thoughts when it comes to education and family matters.
Point of View
The novel has adopted the first point of view through Christopher who is an all-knowing and seeing character throughout the novel. The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-Time is a biographical account of Christopher’s daily occurrences and memories that share his interactions. In the beginning, the reader encounters the narrator who has just found out that Mrs. Shears’ dog had been killed using a pitchfork. The narrator then goes ahead to introduce himself as Christopher Boone and goes ahead to establish that he is going to write a novel is a murder mystery novel (Haddon 2004). The first person viewpoint is relevant to this story since it helps the reader to understand the character’s interactions, aspirations, frustrations, and interactions. Through this viewpoint, the reader is introduced to Christopher’s life and becomes a part of it from the beginning to the end. Christopher comes out as a persuasive character who is capable of standing by his viewpoint by offering a logical explanation. The Monty Hall Problem revolving around the probability of winning either a car or a goat is an excellent example of his logical reasoning. Flajsarova (2018) notes that Christopher provides a compelling step-by-step approach to this problem and concludes that Marilyn Vos Savant was correct despite scientists and mathematicians refuting her answer. This point of view creates a modern feel where can stand up to their convictions without requiring approval from the experts. The use of the first person viewpoint allows Christopher to provide sensory information related to his interactions with other characters. One can understand that in as much as Christopher is gifted he has behavioral issues that are associated with children with Asperger’s syndrome. His attention to detail, obsession with scientific facts, being aloof, and antisocial are al pointers of this syndrome, which is prevalent in modern society.
Conflicts
The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-Time advances major and minor conflicts that help to shape the theme. The major conflict that is evident in this novel has to do with fact versus fiction or lies and is mostly advanced by Christopher. From the beginning, Christopher makes it clear that he does not lie which is the reason he would be writing a factual murder mystery novel. According to Christopher, he wanted to write something, that was real and since he did not know about any person that had died, he would write about Mrs. Shears’ dog (Haddon, 2004). Christopher appears to prefer dogs to people since he believes that humans are inherently evil as compared to dogs who unlike people cannot tell lies. Christopher’s love for truth is evident in how he talks about people’s bad sides, which he focuses most on. For instance, he claims that Terry, his classmate is stupid and “he is most likely to end up in prison” (Haddon, 2004, p. 11). These kinds of talks demonstrate that Christopher struggles to be honest and tell lies to please others something that he cannot do. The other main conflict in the novel is between Christopher’s parents who argue constantly because of Christopher’s erratic behavior. Christopher’s mother cannot put up with this behavior much to the displeasure of Ed, who is protective of Christopher. Lesene (2018) notes that Christopher's psychological disorder created tensions between his parents that his mother engaged in an affair with their neighbor Mr. Shears. This affair created a conflict between Ed and Mr. Shears and it later extended to Mrs. Shears when she could not reciprocate Eds’ romantic gestures. The conflict escalated to appoint that Christopher’s father killed the dog, an action that created a conflict between him and Christopher. The conflict between Christopher and his father worsened when he learned that his mother was still alive but his father had lied about. All these conflicts allow the writer to advance the themes of betrayal and tensions, which define modern societies.
Dialogue
Dialogue is a significant fictional element that allows the characters to converse and in this way advance various themes. The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-Time is full of dialogues that help to build up the characters and at the same time establish their interactions and connectedness. Most of the dialogues happen between Christopher and his father, teacher, and neighbors whom he interacts with from time to time. The first dialogue that the reader encounters is the one between Christopher and the two police officers who respond to Mrs. Shears’ call regarding her dead dog. The police wanted to find out if Christopher had killed the dog. This dialogue establishes that Christopher is incapable of expressing himself especially when he is under pressure. Christopher says, “I wanted to answer the question properly, but the policeman did not give me enough time to work out the correct answer” (Haddon, 2004, p. 4). This dialogue allows the reader to understand that Christopher is not a good communicator and that he has behavioral issues when he hit the police officer. The writer uses dialogue throughout the novel to convince the reader that in as much as Christopher does not like talking going by the short sentences he is intelligent and logical. Pardi (2020) asserts that Christopher exhibits the characteristics of socially maladapted children based on how he frames his words. He tends to go against acceptable socially acceptable norms that dictate how children are to behave. For instance, Christopher asks Mrs. Alexander if his mother and Mr. Shears were doing sex a question that goes beyond social norms. Stenigraber (2016) establishes that the dialogues are not only conversational but also reflective, logical, and insightful. These dialogues allow Christopher to reflect on numerous issues in a way that helps the reader to understand the world from Christopher’s modern viewpoint.
Conclusion
Mark Haddon succeeded in writing a modern novel that demonstrates the interweaving of fictional elements that include setting, point of view, dialogue, and conflict. The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-Time is a biographical piece that captures the characters' thought patterns and interactions. The inclusion of a teenage detective gives the novel a modern feel considering traditional novels embrace older and mature characters for the detective role. Christopher fits well within this role despite having behavioral issues owing to his giftedness. He manages to relate with other characters and helps to bring the best and worst out of them in the same measure. The dialogues that he has with other characters in different setups provide a new twist to the culture of storytelling. In as much as Christopher appears to be antisocial who prefers animals to humans, he is the perfect modern character who advances modern social, economic, and scientific ideas.
References
Caracciolo, M. (2016). Strange narrators in contemporary fiction: Explorations in readers’ engagement with characters . University of Nebraska Press.
Flajsarova.P.(2018). The safe landscape of childhood and identity in Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time . English Studies in Albania, 1 , 43-54. https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=871402
Haddon, M. (2004). The curious incident of the dog in the night-time. Random House.
Pardi, F.M. (2020). Lie in Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Journal of Language, 2 (1), 52-61. e-ISSN: 2685-8878 |
Resene, M. (2018). A “Curious Incident”: Representations of autism in children’s detective fiction. The Lion and the Unicorn 40 (1),81-99. DOI: 10.1353/uni.2016.0000
Steingraber, E. E. (2016). Examining the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time using a narrative inquiry analysis: How do sensory behaviors impact adolescents? Occupational Therapy , 5 , 1-45. https://jayscholar.etown.edu/otstu/5
